Tamara de Lempicka: A retrospective at the de Young

words dolores o’donoghue

Although Art Deco originated in France, the movement flourished in America during the 1920s and ’30s, with California’s Bay Area, especially San Francisco, fully embracing its style. Art Deco influenced not only the city’s architecture but also its furniture, cars, trains and streetcars, leaving a lasting imprint throughout San Francisco. This enduring mark is a testament to the city’s embrace of modernism and its role as a hub of innovation and design.

This autumn, the city’s de Young Museum, part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, will present the first major U.S. retrospective of Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka’s work, celebrating the creative life and legacy of this iconic Art Deco painter.

Born in Poland in 1898, Tamara de Lempicka gained fame not only for her striking and stylised portraits but also as a symbol of women’s liberation. She moved to Paris at the onset of World War I, where she became an active figure in the city’s artistic and social circles. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, she relocated to the United States. Two years later, she exhibited a selection of her latest works at the Courvoisier Gallery in San Francisco. 

‘Considering San Francisco’s history as a great Art Deco capital of the world, the exhibition, aptly presented in close proximity to landmarks of the period such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower, adds to our understanding not only of Lempicka’s work specifically, but also this influential art and design period at large,’ says Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Known as much for her high-society lifestyle as for her art, the painter became a symbol of the carefree spirit and opulence of the 1920s. ‘The combination of varied artistic influences in Europe during the interwar period constitute the ingredients for Lempicka’s unique visual language, a captivating and unique blend of classicism and modernism,’ explains Gioia Mori, exhibition co-curator, professor of Contemporary Art History, and leading Lempicka scholar. The artist had a deep appreciation for classicism, particularly Italian Renaissance painting, which she discovered during her travels to Italy as a teenager. She skilfully fused traditional portraiture with elements of Art Deco and Cubism. Many of her works were commissioned portraits for her affluent friends.

The retrospective Tamara de Lempicka exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the artist’s life and work. Alongside her celebrated portraits, more than 120 pieces will be on display, including rarely seen drawings, experimental still lifes, and a selection of Art Deco objects, sculptures and dresses from the Fine Arts Museums’ collection, providing insight into her artistic process and the historical context of her work.

A special section focuses on Lempicka’s connection to fashion in the 1920s and ’30s, highlighted by works she created for the German fashion magazine Die Dame, including the famous Self-Portrait in the Green Bugatti cover. This relationship is further explored through garments from the Museums’ collection, featuring designs by pioneering women such as Callot Soeurs, Madeleine Vionnet, and Madame Grès – apparel that reflects the era’s emphasis on elegance, ease of movement, and a renewed focus on the natural shape of women’s bodies.

Lempicka embodied the independence of a dynamic ‘New Woman’, capable of crafting her own identity and path through stylish dress. The haute couture fashions depicted in her paintings, such as Portrait of Ira P. and Young Girl in Green, vividly reflect the diverse clothing styles available to women during the interwar era and illustrate Lempicka’s modern beauty, powerful femininity, and her status among upper-class Parisians. 

Tamara de Lempicka runs at the de Young until 9 February 2025 and will then go on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from 9 March to 26 May 2025. The exhibition is co-curated by Furio Rinaldi and Gioia Mori.

• ‘Tamara de Lempicka: A retrospective at the de Young’ is published in Anthology Volume 22. Read more features from this volume or buy it now.
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• Featured image: Tamara de Lempicka working on Portrait of Tadeusz Łempicki, 1929. Gelatin silver print. ©The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Photo: Thérèse Bonney